Wrong Way Around
by Argentum-LS
Summary: A series of micro-works that show the Wolfblood that didn't happen.
1. Wrong Way Around

_A/N: __As always, questions, comments, squee, and concrit are all welcome._

Placement: AU of dark room scene in "Maddy Cool!"

**I. Wrong Way Around**

Face to face, veins running dark and eyes burning yellow, Rhydian and Maddy squared off in challenge. Alone in the darkroom, both were so focused on the other that they didn't hear the other students traversing the corridor outside, nor the key turning in the lock. The door swung open and Shannon stepped in; the two wolfbloods whipped around to snarl their protest at her.

The key fell to the floor with a clatter. "M-m-maddy? Rhydian?" Shannon backed toward the door, and bumped it closed, trapping her in the room. "What are you?"

The wolf faded out of Maddy's eyes and she took a step toward her friend, a pleading hand out. "I'm your best friend," she answered. "Please, Shannon. I can explain."

Shannon shook her head. "No," she murmured. "No, it can't be." Her hands scrabbled at the door, unable to find purchase, to find escape.

While Maddy continued to beg, Rhydian bowed his head. It was too soon, and now it was too late. The girl who had spent her life searching for her beast had found it. From the fear freezing her expression, Rhydian knew that she would never see him or Maddy as anything else again.


	2. Light in the Dark

Placement: Anytime in the first season before 1x13.

**II. Light in the Dark**

"Shan, Shan, don't worry. Help is on the way," Maddy said. She scooted as close to her friend as she dared. Even that small of movement caused a new flurry of dirt and debris to fall over them. The tunnel was on the verge of collapse, and it was only luck that it hadn't fallen in on them already. Good luck, then, to balance out the bad of finding it. Over the centuries the support structures in the underground mines had rotted away, staying intact only through a kind of structural habit. All it had taken was for Shannon to step in the wrong place while out searching for her beast, and the ground had opened up beneath her feet, sending her, Maddy, and Rhydian to the bottom of the shaft.

"What if Tom can't find anyone?" Shannon blubbered. "What if he doesn't remember how to get back here? It'll be dark soon." She cast her gaze up, toward the dirt ceiling and the glimpses of fading sunlight that lay beyond it. "What if we freeze to death first?" She hugged herself, a shiver tracking down her body.

Rhydian patted her leg, trying to offer what reassurance he could. "Tom would never let anything happen to you. We just have to be patient, yeah? Try not to panic?" He'd had his mobile in hand when they fell; he turned the light on now so that Shannon could see that she wasn't alone. There was nothing worse than being scared and alone. The bit of heat the device threw off would also be a help—for as long as it lasted.

He played the light around the walls, showing the rotten beams and crumbling dirt walls that didn't offer so much as a tree root to help them climb out. The earth was damp and heavily musty, the scent so strong that Rhydian could smell nothing else. His breath puffed out white in front of him.

Next to him, Shannon sniffled. "My feet are going numb. And my fingers." It was a comment, not a complaint, yet Maddy bit her lip in worry. The scarves and coats that would have kept them warm had they been able to keep moving weren't enough down here where the dirt hadn't been touched by sun in centuries. The irony was that those same clothes were also preventing them from sharing body heat.

"Rhydian," Maddy whispered. "We have to do something." She met his eyes, trying to force him to understand what she had in mind.

"What can we do?" Shannon asked, voice low and scared. "It's not like we can build a fire down here."

Maddy and Rhydian both recoiled at the thought of her trying. The wood beams would burn well enough if they could find something to ignite them, but the space was so tight that they'd have no choice but to be up next to the flames.

Even that was a better solution than what Maddy was proposing. Rhydian shook his head. "No, Maddy. We can't."

"We have to," Maddy insisted. "Staying like this won't keep us all warm." She went back to gnawing her lip while she waited for Rhydian to come around to the same conclusion she had.

"What are you talking about, Mads?" Shannon asked, now looking back and forth between her friends like the unspoken words might be printed in the air. "What do you want to do?"

At last, Rhydian acquiesced with nod. "Fine. Only because we don't have a choice."

Maddy flashed him a grateful smile, then turned her attention to her best friend. "Shannon, we're going to keep you warm until help gets here. Promise not to be afraid. Please?"

"Why would I be afraid?"

"Promise, first."

Shannon hesitated for only a moment, her curiosity winning out over her concern. "I promise. Now what's the big plan?"

Dipping her head, Maddy let her hair fall in front of her face. When she looked up again, her eyes glowed yellow.

Shannon jumped, eliciting another rain of dirt, then squealed when she saw that Rhydian's eyes had also changed. "You? Both of you? You're my-"

"We're your friends, Shan," Maddy said, taking one of Shannon's hands and giving it a squeeze. The chill of her friend's skin told her that she was making the right call. "We're just doing what we have to to keep you safe." With that, she let the wolf loose in her veins.

An instant later, Shannon found herself buried. The dirt and rocks that had been threatening held no power against the two wolves now curled up around her, their fur all the barrier against the cold that she could want. From the inside, she felt the warmer glow of trust shared.


	3. Counsel

Placement: After 3x13.

**III. Counsel**

"I know this is a difficult time for you, Rhydian." Mr. Jeffries folded his hands on top of his desk and leaned forward, trying to study his young student without being too obvious. As a teacher, he'd dealt with an incredible variety of student problems and he thought he had become pretty good at helping his students navigate their transition to adulthood, but Rhydian had always been an exceptional case. "I just want you to know that if you need anything...anything at all..."

Rhydian sat hunched in his chair, head down, hands clenched white on the arm rests. "What can you do?" he asked, more snarl in his tone than should be possible. He didn't look up, hadn't made eye contact with anyone in days. "What can anyone do? You can't help. No one can."

Jeffries suppressed a sigh. "No, I imagine that it all feels rather hopeless right now." He paused, listening for a moment to the sounds of the kids on the playground that filtered through his open window. So many of them would be leaving school soon, off to whatever adventure waited beyond the reach of his supervision. He'd always hated this time of year. Despite knowing that a new class would be coming in with the next term, all he could see right now was what he was saying goodbye to. "Anyway, I'm not going to patronize you with platitudes about how everything will get better. I'll only say that I'm confident if anyone can adjust, it's you."

Rhydian's grip tightened on the chair and his feet pressed hard into the floor like he was on the verge of bolting from the room. "I don't know who I am anymore," he confessed. "I don't know who I'm supposed to be."

How many times had Jeffries heard similar anguish before, though never with so little hyperbole behind it. He forced himself to stay relaxed, to keep his tone patient. "That's why I wanted to talk to you: to remind you that, no matter what, you still have-"

"A pack?" Rhydian bit out.

"I was going to say: Your artistic talent. Your intelligence. Your drive. You still have plenty to offer the world. You only lost part of what you are, not all." Remind him of that enough, Jeffries thought, and he might even start to understand it.

They'd found the injector after the fight was over, dropped on the staircase where Jana had lost the ability to resist the moonlight. Though she'd still been able to defeat Kendrick, Rhydian had also been a casualty.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Not today," Jeffries answered, truthfully. "Probably not tomorrow, either. Just...think about what I've said, and know that you can still tell me anything." Rising, he crossed the room to where he kept the kettle. "How about a cuppa? I have plenty of tea and, as it turns out, plenty of time now that exams are finished."

Reluctantly, Rhydian nodded. Relief flooded through Jeffries; with so little time left, he'd still managed to get through to another one of his charge.

From outside, he heard a shout and a response. A peal of laughter laced through the calls. He could do this. The threads might change, but not the tapestry.


End file.
